


19. Broken hearts

by Anything00but



Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BAMF Stiles, Beta Cora Hale, Caring Stiles Stilinski, Child Cora Hale, Child Stiles Stilinski, Creature Stiles Stilinski, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Post-Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Spark Stiles Stilinski, Werewolf Healing, Werewolf Peter Hale, Whumptober 2020, Young Peter Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27099052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anything00but/pseuds/Anything00but
Summary: Peter sits in his apartment facing the window. He looks down at the people walking on the sidewalk, he watches the children running laughing and yelling around the grass.His face is still pink and raw from the burns but they are healing slowly. The alpha power he inherited from his sister as she died doing its best to heal Peter. He squeezes his burned arm in a fist, feeling the skin pull painfully.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947130
Comments: 2
Kudos: 306
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	19. Broken hearts

**Author's Note:**

> So this can be read as a sequel to the 4. Running out of time or as a standalone

grief/mourning loved one/ **survivor’s guilt**

  
  


He should have died with his family. He should have burned alive like his alpha, like his sister. It was almost impossible to escape the burning house and its basement. And he would have died if it wasn’t for the little boy how broke the wolfsbane line. But he can't wonder if it was really meant to be- would fate be so cruel to let him live and kill all other members of his family. There were children, so young and innocent and so much more preferable to survive and live.

Peter sits in his apartment facing the huge window. He looks down at the people walking on the sidewalk going on with their lives like every other day. He watches the children running laughing and yelling around the grass. The playground is just on the other side of the trees, Peter knows this, he has taken Cora there before the fire.

His face is still pink and raw from the burns but they are healing slowly. The alpha power he inherited from his sister as she died doing its best to heal Peter. He squeezes his burned arm in a fist, feeling the skin pull painfully. It hurts. All over his body is burned flesh that is trying to heal ever so slowly. It could be worse, Peter knows it but it still doesn't make it easier. To have lost his pack. There is no one to pull his pain, no pack to offer comfort that would speed his healing. It's all his fault for not being good enough to save them. He was not good enough to safe his pack.

The pain is a reminder that he is alive. It's a cruel reminder but it's steady and it's there. He survived the ambush that killed his whole pack. Or not the whole pack. Little Cora is alive and well, her healing has healed her burns on her hands with the little boost Stiles gave her. And Peter is glad for her, she doesn’t have to suffer like he suffers. Peter shielded his little niece from the fire, taking the worst burns to himself.

Cora is coping as well as you could think a little child would. She can feel the gaping hole in her chest where the pack bonds should be but Peter can’t do anything to fill that hole. He has the same hole in his chest. One bond that connects the last two Hales together. She misses her mother and father. She misses her brother and sister. Cora asks everyday when will Derek come and join them since he wasn't in the fire. Peter doesn't have the heart to tell her that he can't feel Derek's bond. Peter knows he needs to tell Cora at some point, but not right now.

If Peter feels around closely enough he can feel one new pack bond. It is shining weakly but it's there and steady. He knows who it belongs to. Of course he knows. There is no one else it can belong to other than Stiles.

It belongs to the boy claiming to be his mate. The six year old boy, son of the sheriff. The same boy who says he is from the future and is at the moment playing with Cora in his living room. Peter can hear the quiet talking the kids are having as they play. They are playing with the dolls Peter has in his apartment left behind by Cora when she has visited him. It's the best he can offer at the moment for her.

How could Stiles be his mate? The little kid, six years of age who doesn't have any sense of self-protection. The kid must be out of his mind to run towards the raging fire, to run past hunters to save them. Peter knows that time travel is possible, in theory if the magic user is strong enough. But the six year old?

He wishes that Talia would be here. She would handle this and Peter wouldn’t have to bother, he would let his sister handle everything and he would do as she tells him. He feels like shit, to lose so many pack bonds at once it’s a miracle he isn’t running feral in the preserve and eating bunnies he can catch. Now that he thinks about it- it doesn't sound so bad.

There is a hand over his own that scares him out of his thoughts.

Stiles stands there looking worried.

“You are sad”, He states and Peter rolls his eyes.

“How could you tell?” Peter asks sarcastically as he pushes the boy’s hand away.

“Why are you so hostile towards me?” Stiles asks not to be phased by Peter’s attempt to push him away.

“If you happen to remember I lost my pack two weeks ago”, Peter snarls at the boy.

“So did she”, Stiles points towards the living room where Peter can hear Cora playing quietly, “You are not the only who went through a great loss.”

Peter huffs feeling petty: “What do you know about anything? You are just a little kid.”

Stiles squints his eyes at the man: “I told you I’m-”

“From the future. I remember”, Peter says coldly, “You also said that you happen to be my mate. You gotta give me something to work with here. You expect me to believe you blindly just because you happen to have little magic.”

“No. I expect you to trust me because your wolf knows who I am. And I know you know it too, you are not stupid. You are just too deep in your own sorrow at the moment to see anything”, Stiles explains calmly trying to get Peter to see the picture.

“I lost my pack”, Peter repeats.

“I watched my mate get killed just two weeks ago”, Stiles says, voice taking a sharp edge.

“You could use your magic to go back in time-” Peter says but gets interrupted by Stiles.

“I did. But don’t think for a second that I didn’t sacrifice all to the cause of seeing you again”, Stiles points his finger at Peter, “I left everything behind. I could have continued my life there but I chose to sacrifice half of my magic to get to you. I had no intention to get this far back but I will take it. If you are going to throw away your life like this I will-”

Peter attacks with a growl. He lifts the little boy up in the air by his hoodie. Stiles’ little legs kick the air as Peter holds him. Peter stares at the boy with glowing red eyes to which Stiles answers by flashing his own white eyes.

“You don’t scare me. I know you”, Stiles breathes out as Peter slowly lowers him back to the ground, “I know you inside and out. I have lived with you for years. I know you don’t know me, not yet. But you aren’t even giving me a change.”

“You are just a kid”, Peter breathes out as he sits back in his chair.

“My body is. My mind is around the same age as you are now”, Stiles explains gently as he takes Peter’s hand in his.

This time Peter doesn’t pull his hand away. He lifts his gaze to meet with Stiles’. The little boy smiles at him. Peter has to believe the crazy story of the boy being from the future and their life together. There is no other reason the kid would be standing before him with so much love and patience in his eyes it makes Peter want to cry.

“Cora needs you. She needs you to pull yourself together”, Stiles whispers as he climbs in Peter’s lap cupping his good cheek, “I’m not telling you to bury your own feelings but you need to help her deal with the loss. She lost her mother, father and siblings. She lost all of her pack- everyone but you. Her uncle she has always looked up to.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Peter asks brokenly, fighting back the tears he can feel gathering to his eyes as he stares at Stiles, “How am I supposed to be all that to her when I can get past the grief?”

“You will. But it will take time”, Stiles whispers, “You need your pack and you have your whole pack here, in this apartment. You will lose her if you don’t pull yourself together.”

Peter lets a tear fall down his cheek. He lets Stiles press his head against the boy’s shoulder and slowly from there to his neck. Peter takes deep breaths of the boy’s scent. He can’t deny the scent of home and love that seems to be Stiles’ basic scent. His wolf who has been mourning wakes up in his head. The wolf whines needily as Peter scents the boy, happy that Peter is finally accepting their mate.

“Uncle Peter?” Cora’s tiny voice calls from the doorway.

Peter pulls his head away from Stiles neck as he turns to look at Cora. The little girl stands there, unsure if she is allowed close. Peter can see what Stiles meant by when he said that he will lose Cora if he doesn’t pull himself together.

“Come here darling”, Peter whispers, opening his arms for Cora.

As the little girl is running towards him Stiles tries to jump off of his lap. Peter tightens his hold on the boy making him stop. Cora climbs in Peter’s lap and throws her tiny arms around his neck. Peter wraps his arms around both of them.

It won’t be easy but he has a feeling that they can make it. They will get through this and Stiles is the force pulling them through it. Peter knows he won’t be alright over night but he will survive this. He has something to live for right in his arms.


End file.
